One Pot At A Time

A previous One Pot At A Time Project post.

My son and I got four sets of seeds planted today according to the One Pot At A Time Project guidelines: medium sized containers (we're using the 12" diameter blue pots that I purchased at the Pot Depot and filled per requirements with Supersoil (the basic SuperSoil, not the premium Supersoil)

We planted Coastal Tidytips (Layia platyglossa), Douglas' Meadowfoam (Limnanthes douglasii), Globe Gilia (Gilia capitata ssp. abrotanifolia), Miniature Lupine (Lupinus bicolor (ssp. microphyllus).

I had thought that these were seeds collected in the wild locally, which is important from the standpoint that we are preserving local genetic variations. However, cultivar or selection names on some of them make me uncertain of this - I would have expected the species name only (eg. Gilia capitata instead of Gilia capitata ssp. abrotanifolia) if these were wild collected seeds.

Perhaps my understanding of plant nomenclature is not correct. Will update later after reading more about binomial nomenclaure.


Here's an email I received from Connie on 1/16
Dear One Pot Gardeners:
Welcome to all the new gardeners - you're in for a great adventure! We have over 150 people participating in the program this year.
Many of you have already planted your seeds. If not, you may want to wait until the weather cools down just a bit. You can plant annual wildflower seeds up until March or even April - as long as you keep the pots watered.
Hot, windy days can be a challenge for container gardeners. Germinating seeds and young seedlings need moist soil to survive. When the rains don't come, you'll need to supply the water. Plant in pots dry out much more quickly than plants in the ground. I check my own pots every morning (and/or evening) during hot windy weather and water as needed. I've found that tiny seedlings are best watered using a spray bottle or mister nozzel on my garden hose. Be sure that you give the seedlings enough water to really dampen the soil down to about 1 inch. As soon as the seedlings become established - which can be as short as 2-3 weeks for some species - it will be much easier to keep your plants watered.
Don't hesitate to e-mail me with questions or comments. And I'd love to see some pictures of your pots/seedlings.
--Connie

EDIT 22 Jan
I noticed the other day that while the handout materials had the selection / cultivar name on them, the seed packets did not. Perhaps the written materials for the seeds are generic to the commonly available selection.